


Give Me An A

by wordsfillthegaps



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Music, Cellist!Adam, F/M, M/M, Pianist!Blue, Quartet AU, Violinist!Gansey, Violinist!Ronan, Violist!Noah
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-02 07:09:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6556720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsfillthegaps/pseuds/wordsfillthegaps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"They worked perfectly together, moving as one voice, in absolute harmony. They were the ideal quartet."</p>
<p>Sometimes you just need to write a musician AU, to get it out of your head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Perfect Quartet

**Author's Note:**

> So, uhh, this is my first proper fanfic haha  
> I should be studying for my exams in three weeks, but here I am.  
> I hope y'all aren't sick of AUs...

#### The Perfect Quartet

####    
  


"Give me an A." Ronan called to Noah, who had set up on top of the grand in the corner. He dutifully placed the note, and pedalled it for Ronan, who had brought his violin up to his shoulder and started to tune it.  
  
"All I'm saying is, that chord would be much easier for you in second position." Gansey said, rosining his bow at the side of the room.  
  
"Yeah, well," Ronan said as he brought the instrument away from his face, and nodded to Noah, "I can manage it in first."  
  
Gansey sighed, "Whatever you want, Ronan."  
  
He sneered, and went into the next room to find the stand he had claimed as his own.  
  
The door clattering open and a muttered expletive brought their attention to the side of the theatre, where Adam was wrestling with the door. Something snapped audibly. Gansey hope it wasn't his patience. After what seemed like an age, he fumbled through the door, ducking to let the top of his cello case under.  
  
"Adam!" Gansey beamed, striding over to close the door again, "You made it!"  
  
"When has he ever missed a rehearsal?" Noah asked, from the corner.  
  
Slinging his cello onto the floor, Adam spoke "I hope you guys don't mind, but I invited someone else along."  
  
Noah visibly perked up: "Who? Is it that cute boy who's always following you about?"  
  
Adam frowned and turned to look at him, "Who?"  
  
A voice spoke from outside "I swear, if you close that door in my face, I won't be too happy to meet you."  
  
Gansey startled, and turned to let the small girl in. Upon stepping into the light, he realised that she wasn't a young girl at all, but a woman of the same age, admittedly much shorter than any of them.  
  
"Oh, hello there. I'm Gansey, and you are?" He stuck out his hand for her to shake, and plastered his vote-winning smile onto his face.  
  
"I've heard about you.” She studied him for a moment, and walked past his outstretched hand and artificial expression, to lean a large art folder against the nearest chair. “You can close the door now."  
  
"I like her already!" Ronan's voice floated through the theatre from next door.  
  
"I like her hair." Noah, who was now hovering around her, chipped in softly. She smiled at him, and unwound a patchwork scarf from her neck.  
  
"Guys, this is Blue." Adam said, his voice muffled from behind his case. She saluted with two fingers, and raised a carton of juice to her lips as Ronan came back through, carrying two stands.  
  
“Welcome to the house of fun.” He said, placing one of the stands in front of Adam’s seat. Adam looked up just in time to mutter a thank you before turning back to his piles of loose sheet music. Blue laughed around her straw.  
  
“Well,” Gansey said, finally getting over his shock, “It’s nice of you to join us. I’m assuming you know Adam.” He trailed off, gesturing at the top of his dusty head, still craned over his mess of a programme. Gansey gestured to the third chair in the formation, where Noah had now gravitated, “That’s Noah, and this is Ronan.” He had turned from his prized stand at this point and raised an eyebrow, while Noah waved energetically. Gansey turned to Blue, proud of his little troupe of friends, to find her nodding.  
  
“Nice set-up you’ve got here.” And it was. They had only been playing together for a short while, but they had soon become great friends, inseparable in many ways. Gansey, the evident leader of the group, had brought them together, after he grew tired of the classical accuracy required when playing solo, and wanted to find a new, organic way of sharing his music. He had soon found Ronan, who was raised with the energetic, chaotic, but often melancholy traditional music of Ireland. Neither of them remembered Noah joining, he had just become a stable part of their collaboration, and Adam had been a unanimous decisions amongst them.  
  
Gansey had soon found that each of them were very similar to their instruments, and their personalities shone through when playing. While he and Ronan had their differences in training and lifestyle, when they played, they played together. They were not two violinists, they were two violins in precise unison, who knew exactly what the other would do next. Despite their individuality, they worked as a unit, passing the melody flawlessly between them. Noah was very like his viola. The group didn’t always notice if he was there or not, but they certainly missed his voice when he wasn’t. And Adam, Adam was the bassline, the pulse, the rock they could rely on, the one that kept them all together and in sync. They worked perfectly together, moving as one voice, in absolute harmony. They were the ideal quartet.  
  
Gansey beamed at them, and turned to Blue, “You know a good thing when you’ve got it.”  
  
Ronan had sprawled onto his chair, and chuckled at Gansey’s expression, “Mama Bear’s proud.”  
  
Gansey threw his rosin at him, which Ronan easily caught one-handed, and turned to put his bow in his case. A sigh of relief from Adam, who had piled all his music onto a chair and was now rustling through them, meant that he had finally found the piece he was looking for. Ronan’s eyes were immediately drawn to his back, and the line of his spine, visible through his thin t-shirt.  
  
“Someone needs to get that boy a folder” he murmured. Noah giggled and nudged his ribs, avoiding the death glare he received in return.  
  
Gansey, still messing about in his own case, spoke “There’s just something about a quartet. The sounds, the harmonies...”  
  
Ronan groaned, and leant back in his chair, plucking a stray melody from his fiddle, “Here we fucking go.”  
  
“The complexity, you have to communicate with each and every one in the group, and know their parts as well as your own.” Gansey continued, oblivious.  
  
Adam had eventually found a way of balancing the music that he needed onto his stand, and had now removed his cello from his case. He looked up, and hearing the tail end of Gansey’s comment mouthed an apology to Blue, who shrugged in response.  
  
Noah had begun to giggle quietly, and soon Ronan was laughing, Noah’s infectious joy clear in the room.  
  
“What’s so funny? Gansey’s shoes again?” Adam asked, as went over to sit next to them, placing his bow on the bottom of his stand.  
  
“Thinking about your stupid clef again, bass.” Ronan fired back, the challenge in his eyes and the tilt of his mouth evident.  
  
Adam made a sound of indignation, as he pulled out his spike, his cello resting easily across his legs. “What kind of a name is treble, anyway? More like trouble.”  
  
Ronan laughed, “Is that seriously the best you’ve got? Jesus, Parrish.”  
  
Adam shook his head, laughing, “I’ll come up with something better after a couple of hours sleep.”  
  
At this, Ronan’s expression clouded. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Noah, “I play in alto!”  
  
They both turned to look at him.  
  
“Everyone knows that’s the most stupid clef, Noah.” Ronan smirked.  
  
He immediately frowned, the grumpy face of a five year old, and folded his arms the best he could with a viola on his lap, “I play in your stupid treble sometimes, too.”  
  
Adam laughed, and nestled his cello onto the ground before him, resting comfortably against him.  
  
“It’s not so much the clef, but the mechanics of the instrument itself.” Gansey said, turning as he fit his shoulder rest on to the body of his violin.  
  
“Oh, cry me a fucking river, Gansey.” Ronan said, throwing him a look. Adam smiled, and looked at Blue, who seemed to be enjoying the antics of their quartet. He joined in with Ronan and Noah’s impromptu jamming session, plucking out a bassline on his C string.  
  
“I’m being serious! When have you ever heard the same quality of sound from another instrument?”  
  
Blue scoffed at this, and twisted a button on her jacket round.  
  
He turned to her, and said “Genuinely. Wind instruments, brass, even piano. They’re just not the same.”  
  
The strangled sound of Adam’s pizzicato, as he slid his hand down the fingerboard, drew his attention away.  
  
“Gansey, can we drop this?” Adam asked pointedly.  
  
He frowned, confused, “Why? We’re having a discussion. Wind instruments are pretty basic, in themselves. Brass are just so…” He gestured as he turned back to his music, clearly struggling to find the right words. Adam sighed, relieved that he would pursue the topic no longer.  
  
“And the piano…” Gansey began, oblivious to the sudden tension in the room, and Adam’s wince, “Well, let’s be honest. It’s not such a spectacular instrument, is it? It doesn’t take much to tap out a tune.” He laughed, and looked around to seek the others’ opinions.  
  
The room was silent. Even Noah had stopped humming along, to look at him. It was only then that Gansey turned to Blue, who hadn’t said anything, in an attempt to gauge what had happened. Her soft smile and downturned eyes, covered partly by her hair was clue enough. The colour drained from his face, as he realised his blunder.  
  
“Shit.” Came from Adam, accompanied by a long, low whistle from Ronan. Noah’s silent grimace was loud enough in the gap which followed.  
  
Gansey swallowed, “Blue. I am so unbelievably-“  
  
He fell silent as she stood, and took off her jacket. The four of them watched as she walked over to the grand piano in the corner and sat down. Then she began to play.


	2. His Own Heartbeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group becomes a Quintet...  
> or  
> Blue plays for them, and Gansey feels bad :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has read, left kudos, or commented on this, it really means so much to me :)  
> This chapter is a little shorter, but I'm hoping to get some more writing done soon. I'll get the exams out of the way, and then properly work on this.  
> Hope y'all enjoy! :)

#### His Own Heartbeat

When he was 7, Richard Gansey III’s mother had suggested that he and his sister take up an instrument, in an attempt to explore and exploit more of their talents. By suggested, she of course meant that it was compulsory for her campaign trail. While he himself had picked up the probably priceless violin which had been discarded in the corner of one of their many rooms for most of his living memory, and found refuge in the patterns and complexity it brought; his sister had immediately requested that she have lessons in piano. Gansey was haunted all summer by stilted chords and the jumpy transitions from one section of chopsticks to the next, until he had desperately launched himself into excavating their pristine garden. Helen had soon given up, and moved on to far more interesting hobbies. Gansey’s hatred of the piano had remained. Until now.  
  
Blue hardly seemed to need to press the keys, drawing the melody from it with gentle caresses. Her head bowed, he could see only part of her face through the curtain of her hair, which was slowly but surely falling free of the multitude of colourful clips holding it back. The music, a collection of stray notes floating over soulful chords; struck straight through Gansey, to his very core. It rang in his ears, echoed in his stomach, and twisted something deep within his chest. He felt drawn towards the source, as the notes carried through the air, magnified and enhanced by the acoustics of the hall.  
  
It was like nothing he’d ever heard before. It was unpredictable, chaotic, made him feel uncomfortable and sad, yet it was undeniably beautiful. The creak of the auditorium stool and the clunk of the pedals felt part of the piece, the organic symphony of Blue’s presence, as she exhaled slowly, letting the music flow seamlessly through her. She opened her eyes to look down at the piano and Gansey could see how much this music meant to her. The keys were her workplace, her sanctuary, her home.  
  
Gansey was mesmerised. His gaze was fixed on her small frame, absorbed by her calm on this stage, her comfort with the smooth feeling beneath her fingertips and the tension which seemed to unravel in her stomach and disappear each time she sat in front of a piano, content to let her music take her away. She smiled gently, and he immediately felt a strong desire to see it again, to be the cause of it, for her to be as happy in his presence as with her music. Then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped. The lingering sound bounced through the room, reverberating off of the five of them, and slowly dying until Gansey could only hear his own heartbeat.  
  
Blue’s head had dropped again, and he could see her shoulders heaving as she grappled with her emotions. He drew a breath, and finally looked away from her, towards the other silent occupants of the room. Ronan was sprawled across his chair, head tipped back, violin resting securely against his chest. He stared straight at the ceiling and did not blink. Adam seemed to have crumpled into himself, his torso curled around the neck of his cello. He shuddered slightly, and lifted his head towards Blue, smiling at her through misty eyes. Noah broke the silence.  
  
He stepped past their four chairs, creaks following him as he came to stand behind Blue. He gently rested his hand on her hair. She flinched, but moved further back into the contact, finally breaking out of her trance. She turned slightly to smile at Noah, and he continued to pet her increasingly spiky hair.  
  
Gansey exhaled, and cleared his throat. All eyes immediately fell on him.  
  
“Blue. That was…” He shook his head, running a hand through his now dishevelled hair. “I believe I owe you an apology.” She continued to look at him. He was unable to look back. Ronan shifted from his position, turning towards her, his eyes drifting to the piano.  
  
“For someone so small…” Blue shot him a glare, and he smiled back, a real smile, Gansey noticed. “There was a lot of emotion in that.”  
  
“It was beautiful.” Noah whispered.  
  
Ronan had turned back to his music, and now looked over the top of the sheets to see Adam, who was rubbing his neck, his eyes closed.  
  
“No matter how many times I hear you play…” He started, and shook his head, opening his eyes to smile up at Blue, his hand still hooked around his neck, “You’re incredible, Blue. You really are.”  
  
She smiled and looked down at her lap, playing with the bracelets on her wrist.  
  
“Such a charmer.”  
  
“From a young age?” Noah chuckled quietly, his hands still buried in Blue’s inky hair.  
  
“Oh, of course!” She laughed, resting her head on his chest and exposing the column of her throat.  
  
“Hey, I’m just being honest, _maestro_.” He gestured flippantly towards the piano and shook his head disbelievingly, smiling at Ronan over his stand.  
  
“Oh, shut up. You’re one to talk, _pretty boy_.” She shot back, amusement evident in the crinkles by her eyes.  
  
Adam laughed, and Ronan was suddenly truly engrossed in his music. Gansey cleared his throat again, striving for the words.  
  
"Shall we start, then?" He asked, checking his watch. "We only have another hour in here."  
  
He was met by the stares of Adam and Ronan.  
  
"We're waiting for you, Dick." He drawled, lifting one eyebrow. Adam laughed again, and leant forward to rearrange his papers. He seemed so content and confident in his seat, so different to the Adam that Gansey was used to seeing, obviously burdened with the weight of stress and fatigue. This Adam’s smile was easy, his shoulders thrown back; a visible effect of Blue’s presence.  
  
Noah had drifted back towards his seat, and now looked expectantly towards Gansey.  
  
"Right." He cleared his throat and picked up his own folder, balancing his violin and bow in the other hand. He gestured towards Blue, "I hope you won't be too bored, we have quite some work to do."  
  
She smiled at him and shook her head, "Don't worry about me, I'll be just fine." As she spoke, a little melody rang out from the piano, quiet but assured.  
  
Gansey nodded shortly, and stood up straighter. He looked over to see the rest of his quartet, and nodded to himself once again.  
  
"Let's start."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave a comment, I'm also on [tumblr](http://wordsfillthegaps.tumblr.com)  
> for any messages, questions, suggestions, prompts or just general chat. Come on over!


End file.
